New York law has long recognized that attorneys who make defamatory statements in connection with an existing litigation enjoy an absolute privilege against claims for libel and slander. Whether such a privilege extends to...more

The Texas Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Shell Oil Co.’s pending defamation case. Robert Writt, a former Shell employee, sued the company for defamation after Shell submitted a report to the Department of Justice about...more

The controversial firing of former CBC radio host and personality Jian Ghomeshi has captured the public’s attention in recent days for many reasons, most of which have nothing to do with the law. In terms of the legal issues...more

Court spanks parents. In a landmark decision, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in Boston v. Athearn that parents can be held responsible for the social media activities of their kids. The case involved a seventh-grade boy...more

Last month, a New York hotel, the Union Street Guest House ("hotel"), learned a valuable lesson in online etiquette and the power of personal reviews. The hotel inserted a clause into its wedding guest contracts that informed...more

One of the issues we address in this blog is the notion that social media doesn’t necessarily create new claims, but rather serves as a quicker and easier platform to apply traditional claims that have existed forever. Take...more

In Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper (Jan. 27, 2014), the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that airlines are entitled to civil immunity for reporting suspicious behavior to the TSA, provided their reports are not “materially...more

The events of September 11 were by no means the first examples of terrorism involving aviation, but they unified the U.S., if not the world, in its effort to make air travel safer. It was in the wake of 9/11 that Congress...more

In Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that immunity may not be denied under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) to substantially true statements. According to the Court,...more

On January 27, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a nearly $1.2 million jury verdict for defamation against Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation in a case surrounding the airline carrier’s report about a...more

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper, 571 U.S. ---, No. 12-315 (2014), holding that immunity for an air carrier under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, 49...more

As this blog illustrated recently, sentiments posted on Facebook, if sufficiently vulgar or offensive, can cause a person to lose his job.
The Seventh Circuit recently issued a decision analyzing whether a profane and...more

In France, judges consider that the answer to this question depends on the parameters of the employee’s profile on Facebook.
In a decision of April 10, 2013, the French Supreme Court ruled that when insulting comments...more

Lawyers often say that bad facts lead to bad law. Cases with outrageous fact patterns can drive a judge or jury to stretch the law and make outcome-based decisions in order to provide relief to a sympathetic party. Lawyers...more

This blog has focused heavily on social media-related issues that arise in the employer/employee relationship and that have been a continual challenge for employers over the last decade. Employment-related social media issues...more

Even though a Virginia bank properly terminated a bank teller and then warned bank employees not to discuss it, the bank still faced potential liability to the ex-teller for defamation when employees talked about it to...more

Who owns an employee's social media account when it is used to promote the employer's business? This is a hot-button topic and developing area of employment law, and a Pennsylvania federal court recently shed more light on...more

It is not, as many recent articles and blogs have discussed, just about whether relevant social media information can be discovered by one party in a lawsuit. It is also about what happens when a party fails to preserve...more

In legal circles, we’ve all been anxiously awaiting a result in the case of Eagle v. Morgan (download here) – a case out of Pennsylvania where the issue who owned a LinkedIn page and contacts (the employee vs. the employer)...more

In October 2012, we told you about the case of Eagle v. Edcomm, Inc. pertaining to whether an employee’s LinkedIn account belongs to the employee (Linda Eagle) or to her employer (Edcomm). At that time, the United States...more

Social media continues to be important in litigation, especially in cases where the plaintiff alleges damages for emotional distress or mental injury. Courts are increasingly allowing discovery of the plaintiff's social media...more

Employers are now on full alert that employee’s online activity in the office and in the home has a direct, often beneficial/often detrimental impact, on the bottom line. And with each day’s headlines new complications and...more